News24 Jul 2006


Pitkämäki, 88.17m champs record, Evilä back to fitness is over 8m – Finnish Champs

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Tero Pitkämäki throws at the 2006 Finnish Champs in Jyväskylä (© Paula Noronen)

 Jyväskylä, FinlandTero Pitkämäki provided the real high of the Finnish Championships, "Kalevan Kisat", as expected on Sunday (23). The 23-year-old IAAF World Ranked number two unleashed an 88.17m winning throw to surpass his own competition record of 87.83m from last year.

The National Championships which were held from Friday (21) to Sunday (23), for the fifth in their history, at Harju field in Jyväskylä, attracted a nice crowd in a warm weather although a strong wind made distance running quite difficult.
 
Although there were no new medal hopes rising from these Championships, there was still plenty happening during the weekend. Men's Javelin Final was of course – this is Finland after all - the last event of the meeting and because of some delays in the field events, for the last three rounds it was also the sole event in the stadium.

The competition was soon over with Pitkämäki starting at 86.32m with others staying under 80m. The Finnish number one then recorded two failures both landing just out of the sector around 85m before hitting the winning throw 88.17m in round four. His fifth was a technically bad release which still reached 84.18m, with his sixth another fouled throw.

Mannio, the firm favourite for World Junior gold

Tero Järvenpää took the silver with 80.92m and Ari Mannio gave himself the best possible birthday present getting his first senior national medal with a 78.81m throw enough for third place. Mannio, now 19-years-old, is the number one in the junior world list and is in extremely good shape close to next month’s World Junior Championships in Beijing.

Former World Junior record holder (82.52m in 1996) Harri Haatainen, now 28-years-old, made a comeback to the top eight finishing 7th with a season's best of 76.65m, his best since 2002. Haatainen, who has a best of 86.63m in 2001, is looking to be in the 2008 Beijing Olympics team.

Good attempt at 2.31m Finnish record

The other highlight event of the championships, also on Sunday, was the men's High Jump. Three men have cleared 2.25m in Finland this summer and a high standard competition was expected. The crowd was particularly enthusiastic about this high jump because one of those three, Osku Torro, was competing before his home crowd. Torro took the bronze with a 2.18m, but was not able to beat 2005 World Championship finalist Oskari Frösén, and Heikki Taneli yesterday.

Frösén took the lead with a first time clearance at 2.23m, but Taneli reversed the situation clearing 2.25m with his first. Taneli, from Turku, then equalled his personal best of 2.27m with Frösén unable to clear the bar. After securing his first national title Taneli then made three very good attempts at the national record tying height of 2.31m and his last jump was very close succeeding as well.

Evilä back over 8m

The most awaited event of Saturday didn't disappoint either. The bronze medallist of the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Tommi Evilä, who has been suffering from a persistent knee injury this season, got off to a slow start, but was finally able to record his first eight metre jump of the season in round four with a wind assisted 8.01m, before finishing the competition with a legal winning mark of 8.02m in round six.

Murofushi guests with 80.14m

Friday’s highlight was the men's Hammer Throw where Olli-Pekka Karjalainen took the national title with a 78.26m throw. Koji Murofushi (JPN), competing as a guest, was a happy man after his 80.14m throw. The Japanese hammer star had only arrived in Finland shortly before the competition and was happy to get over 80m line despite the short period of concentration.

The men's 100m was won by Visa Hongisto in 10.54. This was the 19-year-old's first national title and he was looking at a possible double, but could not start the 200m final due to a minor injury suffered in the 100m final false start. Hongisto has opted to run at the World Junior Championships although he has also reached the European Championships standards for both 100m/200m.

Jussi Utriainen was another first time winner on Friday in the 5000m, but he made it two on Sunday winning the 10,000m as well. Times were nothing special with Utriainen clocking a season's best of 14:01.06 in the 5000m and won the 10,000m in 29: 41.18. Tuomo Lehtinen, who will run the marathon in Gothenburg, and is the husband of the best Finnish female distance runner Johanna (Risku) Lehtinen, was second in both events (14:06.77/29:54.82). Lehtinen only made one appearance at the championships this time winning the women's 1500m in 4:15.09.

Steeplechaser Jukka Keskisalo was another double winner taking the steeplechase title on Friday in 8:37.19 and then sprinting to a 3:47.80 win over the 1500m on Sunday.

Marko Ritola and Juha Sonck recorded fine personal bests in the men's 110m Hurdles with Ritola winning at 13.74 and Sonck clocking 13.75 for the second.

Matti Mononen was a convincing winner in the men’s Pole Vault. Mononen, suffering from a difficult wind during the competition, cleared the winning height 5.55m with his first try before making three good attempts at 5.73m. His last try was extremely close with bar staying up for short time before coming down.

Lassi Raunio won the men's Decathlon with a personal best of 7862 points which will take him to the European Championships. Ville Tiisanoja topped the men’s Shot Put with a 20.09m winning throw, and Mikko Kyyrö took the Discus Throw title at 62.07m.

In the women's events Sari Keskitalo was a clear winner in the 200m to take her first national title with a 23.85 personal best, while Kirsi Mykkänen added another title with a 53.13 clocking for 400m.

In the High Jump national record holder Hanna Mikkonen got some unexpected competition with Alina Mattila finishing second with a personal best of 1.86m, Mikkonen took the win with a routine 1.88m jump.

The Women's Javelin throw, always a central event as well, was a disappointment this time. The 60m line was too far away and Paula Tarvainen's winning mark was 59.18m, Mikaela Ingberg was second at 58.98m closely followed by Taina Kolkkala's 58.81m throw which gave her the bronze medal.

Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
 
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